Requiem of an illusion
by Rahil and Koronis
Summary: Am I a dream? Or are you a dream? Taken away from what he might have called Home. Tidus is thrust into a world he does not understand and recognize, and at the same time, so uncannily familiar.


Disclaimer: Final Fantasy is a registered trademark of the Square Enix corporation and we are just borrwing material for use in this work of fiction

_Yuna... I have to go now._

The words he said seemed so empty. As if this was all just a game. I shook my head stubbornly, as if by mere force of will, I could stop him from leaving.

_I'm sorry I couldn't show you Zanarkand._

I tried to stop the tears. I really did.

"_But you promised me..."_ I thought indignantly. _"Why couldn't you just-"_

_Goodbye._

He ran toward the edge of the deck. But somehow, he just stopped. It gave me hope, false hope, that I could have caught him and embraced him.

Like we did so long ago.

Like we did just now.

I ran after him. It wasn't in me to just sit and wait. It just wasn't. Even if it was hopeless. I thought of Sin. I thought of how hopeless it felt before that. We just won the day, why couldn't it just...be as it should?

He turned around, sorrow in his eyes, as I lunged at him...and passed through him, falling onto the deck. He seemed wreathed with light, and indeed he was, as the pyreflies danced merrily around him, ignorant of the agony I felt coursing through my body.

The pain from the fall didn't compare to the hurt I felt in my heart. Not even remotely comparable to the loss rending my soul.

The dream. It was nearly over. I had to say it.

"_I love you."_

I didn't turn back. I... didn't want to.

For the last time, I felt his strong arms around me, and the increasingly faint brush of his lips of my cheek.

"_Tidus..."_ I whispered brokenly, as the touch finally faded to nothingness.

He passed through me, and broke into a run that took him over the deck of the Fahrenheit.

Away from me.

My home, my dream, my friend, my love.

The metallic deck seemed to rise up to meet me, inexorable and callous.

I knew nothing more.

"He's coming round, doctor."

"Quick, get me a glass of water."

The incoherent voices seemed to buzz about endlessly, aimlessly, like the py-

I opened my eyes, and searingly bright light assaulted them, blinding me.

"Yuna... I'm sorry," I croaked, unable to summon the strength to speak.

"Did he say something?" one voice interrupted the drone of the background chatter, in its distinctive pitch.

_Yuna!_

"Yuna? Yuna!" her sweet name seemed to give me strength, as I forced it all out into a scream.

"What's he shouting about?"

"I don't know, hold him down, and get Montgomery here with the restraints!"

Strong arms grabbed my hands, and I heard and felt the soft slap of leather against my arms. They were tying me up?

I struggled, but I was far too weak to manage anything but a gurgling protest.

_Yuna!_

Strength surged through me once again and I pushed against the arms with my newfound strength, knocking them away.

"By God, he's too strong! Sedate him, quick!"

I continued struggling, this time catching a face with my foot.

I heard a scream and a grunt, and the thought of injuring the bastards who held me down was insanely gratifying.

"Damnit, where is the bloody sedative?"

With a leap, I sprung from the bed, escaping the blinding light and finally getting a proper look at where I was.

_A room, sterile and white. Four beds, some beeping machina of strange design..._

"Leave me alone!" I yelled.

"Please, calm down, we're not going to hurt you," a portly, bald man with glasses said. He had a kindly expression on his craggy face, like Maechen.

I ignored him and bolted out the open door.

There were curious faces staring at me as I ran, all of them concerned. What was this place? It all smelt so dry and sterile, like a tomb. It sickened me.

"Stop that man!" I heard voices behind me, huffing and panting as I was. "Someone PLEASE stop him!"

I growled. I wasn't going to give up so bloody easily. They wouldn't catch me even if they-

"Oof!"

My breath left me in a huff, as I felt a hammer blow against my chest-

"Whoa there youngster," a tall man in a white coat said as he got me into a hammer-lock. It was no use; he was too strong for me.

All of a sudden all I saw was a dim blur, my arms refusing to obey my mind and my legs collapsing under my weight. What was happening?

I just felt so tired but yet, that could not have been the case; I just woke up. I felt my legs slipping as I no longer had the energy to stand. My vision blurred further till I knew no more.

Montgomery sighed as he let the boy down; his tranquilizer injection was effective enough to ensure that he would sleep peacefully for several hours to come.

He heard the soft patter of footsteps behind him and turned to find none other than the doc standing there shaking his head.

"Take him to his room and strap him in proper this time, Monty. Make sure he doesn't get loose again"

Monty registered the look of distaste on the doc's face as he looked at the boy.

He didn't know much of this boy; he had been here so long that no one even bothered anymore.

For him to wake up like that and after so long…was impossible.

Monty sighed as he picked up the boy bridal-style, noting vaguely how light he was. Then again, anyone who'd been living on intravenous drips for so long would be like that...

He enjoyed a greasy burger now and then... and so, being tube fed was something he would rather not think of.

The boy's room was not far, but the walk felt way longer than it should have.

With a soft click the boy's door opened and the light from the corridor met the interior of the sparse room in an almost eerie fashion.

The machinery at the bedside stood silent and imposing as he laid the boy on his bed and tied him up.

He never liked tying someone else up like that, it felt so... inhuman...

But then again…orders were orders.

As Monty set out of the room he heard from the boy's lips in nothing more than a whisper

"_Yuna... Yuna..."_

What was a Yuna?

Ah... maybe he was saying _Tuna_, Monty was no professional lip-reader after all, but it seemed the boy was hungry. Oh well, so was he…

"Man, Wakka, what a dream I had, you should have be-", I stopped in mid-sentence.

The same walls and lights from the dream.

Okay... maybe I was still sleeping.

Yet I knew I could not have been, this felt real to me.

My mind was sluggish and my voice came out in a weak croak... and I felt thirsty…so very thirsty... as if I hadn't drunk a drop in weeks.

I looked around the dimly lit room, finding a glass of water on a bedside table.

I tried to reach for it... but there was little problem; my hands were kinda tied up. Where is this? I looked around for some kind of clue but there was nothing except for a couple of silent machina…_machina! _

Was this Zanarkand? Has Home been rebuilt?

I struggled hard against the restraints claustrophobia kicking in.

"Cid, you bastard! Get in here!"

Somehow... I knew there would be no response. Something told me that there was more to this than met the eye.

Suddenly, as the door opened and admitted that same old man. He looked exactly like Maechen and his kind face stood in stark contrast to my brutally sterile surroundings, which all seemed to inundate me with a sense of dispassionate functionality.

"Good morning Tidus, how are you feeling?" he spoke in a gentle voice as if he was genuinely concerned.

I had so many questions that needed answering.

I settled for: "Where am I?"

He sighed, rubbing his hand over tired eyes.

"You're in a hospital."

"What?"

It was impossible. I remembered everything. Zanarkand, my friends, the journey...

"Yes, a hospital for the mentally-ill"

"You see ,you have been in a coma for nearly a year now. It's a miracle that you even woke up at all..."

End of Chapter One

Authors' Note: This is a collaboration between my friend and I. He did most of the storyline and I did the details. This is a collective work that is equally the product of each others work.

This'll be the start of a long fic. All I can say is that it might not appeal to everyone, especially if you came here looking for a lovey dovey, happy-go-lucky fic.


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